back from Seoul

Wow... that sounds like either paradise or hell, not sure which. Knowing all that was there but not being able to scoop up huge quantities?... More tales of the road, please.;-)

Tales of the road? OK, this is going to veer OT. I was there to attend a conference of FAWCO, an umbrella organization for women's clubs. In addition to the usual conference stuff, they had some speakers from NGOs involved in helping North Korean refugees. Heartbreaking stories. One was a German doctor who went around to hospitals all over North Korea, until they kicked him out. He said that most food aid never reaches the starving children. The government simply sells the food to other countries for cash. Or even worse, destroys it trying to claim inflated insurance compensation. Another speaker talked about his work with an underground railroad that helps refugees out of China. If China catches any North Korean refugees, they are immediately deported back. Then they will be arrested and tortured to reveal how they managed to escape. Hardly anybody is able to get across the border to South Korea, so most of them have to go via China. This speaker urged everybody to write to their country's Chinese embassy and ask them to uphold the Convention on Refugees of 1951, which China signed. He thinks the period up to the Beijing Olympics is a unique opportunity to influence them.

We saw lots of fantastic things. Tour of one of the royal palaces. Visit to a folk village, with a working Buddhist temple. Evening of traditional Korean music and dancing. Lots of great food. Reception at the American ambassador's house, a traditional old-style Korean mansion. We all wanted to move in. And then there were the markets. Unbelievable and inexpensive. The mother lode of plastic hair ornaments, handbags, quilted vests and jackets. I bought an eelskin handbag, very beautiful. Also some amethyst earrings, locally-mined stone. I felt like it was a place I could easily live in for a while, because it would take time to do more than scratch the surface. Local people were very pleasant, one never felt stared at. Roberta in D

"Debi Matlack" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:fr5m2d$um1$ snipped-for-privacy@registered.motzarella.org...

Sounds like a good trip. Too bad you couldn't take a bit more home with you. ; (

We had kimchee in all varieties of hot, from very mild on the plane over to fry-your-brain at a good restaurant. I like it somewhere in the middle, which it was most of the time. Sauerkraut with an attitude! Roberta in D

"Anne Rogers" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:bLydnXI33b_1ZkvanZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...

So where did you go. Did you find ho-tak on the street in Tongdaemun?

We lived south of Seoul for 2 years and I really loved it.

OK ... found this post separate from another where I asked if you got to Tongdaemun (think that's how they spelled it in the subway, which I alwsy took). I am SO glad you got there! It's a great place and I'd love to go back.

Small blonde children were hugely fascinating to the Koreans (I was there 1989-1991). Even my son, who had brown hair and eyes, complained about being touched and stared at ... Koreans love children.

My sister and sister-in-law came via the Reunion in Korea program (for relatives of military members) and they had a week long tour of the country. They said the gray-haired people on the tour were really objects of curiosity and respect. There is that Asian thing there of respecting the elderly that I am really starting to appreciate as my hair turns silver!

We live in a community with an Air Force base and have a wonderful Korean restaurant (Korean wives of military members are the cooks). I often go there for bi-bim-bap or chop-chae bap and kimchi. Kimchi may be the hottest thing on the planet ... I only dislike it when they put in too much fishy stuff.

I'd go back to Korea in a heartbeat.

Here's a funny story .... We were living at Osan Air Force Base and I was helping a Korean officer with his English ... meeting in his office once a week. One of his young troops approached me and asked if I'd be his friend. When he was released from military service, we began to meet every week or 2 at our home (he loved taco soup, but didn't think sauerkraut was anything like kimchi!) or in Seoul. He showed me many sites/sights of the city and introduced me to various foods (dried cuttlefish with peanuts and beer was among my favorites).

I was about 43, he was 26. And yes ... my husband knew all about him.

So ... I eventually framed a photo of him and me and put it on the book shelf. My cleaning lady, who didn't speak English, asked me about him one day. I thought I said in Korean ... "this is my student friend." She about choked laughing, but of course couldn't explain why as she didn't speak English. So I asked my Korean language professor what I'd said. I had said .... "this is my night-time friend."

We did eat some delicious doughnut things from a street vendor at the market. Gotta keep that blood sugar up! I still dream about that building full of fabric... We saw a little tourist stuff, one of the palaces, a "folk village" museum, the exhibit of gifts to the president. I had to attend the conference, which put an end to fun tours, but other people saw the DMZ, went to museums, etc. Seoul was such fun, I'd like to go back! Roberta in D

"Lois Hansen" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:2008032319430216807-lobo119@gmailcom...